Exam-Day Strategy: What to Do in the First Ten Minutes

You've studied for weeks. You've drilled hundreds of questions. You've watched the Pearson VUE tutorial video so many times you could narrate it at a party. Then the exam starts and your brain performs a factory reset. The first ten minutes decide how the other eighty go — so spend them on purpose, not in a panic.

Minutes 0–2: Do the Tech Check You Control

If you're testing from home, this starts before the timer does: stable internet, a quiet room, and no family members who “just need to print something.” At a test center, it means getting physically comfortable — adjust the chair, the screen, the scratch paper situation. You cannot pause the exam at question 40 to fix your posture, so fix it now while the stakes are still zero.

Minutes 2–5: Empty Your Head Onto the Scratch Paper

The moment the timer starts, before touching a single question, write down everything you're afraid of forgetting: port numbers, the shared responsibility model, acronyms, mnemonics, that one subnetting rule. This is called a brain dump, and it works because it stops your working memory from doing double duty for the next hour and a half.

Yes, even on Security+ (90 questions, 90 minutes) and even on AWS CCP (65 questions, 90 minutes). Both exams give you scratch materials at a test center and an on-screen whiteboard at home. Use them. The five minutes you spend writing things down pay back double when a PBQ asks you to configure a firewall and your hands aren't shaking.

Minutes 5–8: Do a Scouting Run

Click through the first several questions, including the performance-based ones, just to see what's out there. You're not answering yet — you're scouting. Note which domains look heavy, which PBQs look doable, and which questions you want to revisit with fresh eyes. A quick reconnaissance of the battlefield is a legitimate strategy, not cheating; soldiers do it, and so should you.

Don't overthink the scouting run — thirty seconds per question is plenty. You're looking for patterns: a heavy run of scenario questions, a PBQ that plays to your strengths, a domain you know cold. You'll come back to the flagged ones with a plan and a calmer pulse, which is worth more than the two minutes you spent.

Minutes 8–10: Make the PBQ Call

PBQs are the time sinks. A single performance-based question can swallow five minutes, and it's worth no more than a multiple-choice question. So make a decision in minute eight: if a PBQ looks approachable, knock it out while your brain is fresh. If it looks like a horror movie, flag it and move on — you can come back with ten minutes left and at least make an educated attempt.

The rest of the exam is execution: answer what you know, flag what you don't, never leave a question blank, and use the review screen before you submit. If you've spent the first ten minutes on purpose — comfortable, brain dumped, scouted, PBQ strategy locked — the next eighty will feel a lot less like a hostage situation and a lot more like a test you're prepared to pass. And that feeling, more than any single fact, is what gets you the score.